Or is there some cell phone equivalent? Push to talk channel of some kind?

The original push-to-talk cell phone was rolled out by Nextel and their primary customers were commercial outfits that did a lot of dispatching, like taxis and trucks. (I worked for the company that used to do their billing.) However, that was (and is) point-to-point; you have to know the number of the person you want to talk to. There is no cell phone service that provides an open channel the way CB does. Nothing beats a CB radio for telling any interested drivers within a couple of miles about accidents, traffic tie-ups, and bears in plain brown wrappers (I guess they still say that).

Is it true that, at one point, "Good buddy" became a sort of code phrase meaning, "I'm gay and looking to hook up with somebody"? Or was that just a legend that Ann Landers spread?

Years ago I was on the CB talking to a trucker, and when I said "Thanks, good buddy" he asked me not to call him that. I always speculated that the song "CB Savage" ("Mercy sakes, good bodies...I'd love to get to know your handles") altered the perception of "good buddy."

Before retiring years ago, I had to drive a lot for business. Stupid New York State still kept their speed limit at 55 when the rest of the world had 65 or higher. So, a fuzz buster and a CB radio let me know where just about every Smokey was.